Dug Out
No 3 Post
Saturday 12/6/1915
6.30 P.M.
Dear Everybody
Here I am still trying to do my little bit, & have at the present moment just finished a very good tea, that is, considering we are on service, & have one hour & a half to spare before going on duty. I came out of the trenches on Thursday night after having spent 48 hours of what might be termed at this time partial peace. With the exception of a few snipers who were fairly busy through the day, & about 3 hours on Thursday morn of a considerable amount of firing on to our post, we had a very quiet time. About 1 o’clock AM. on Thurs morn a rattle of musketry made us all spring up & stand to arms, thinking that we might be attacked in a few minutes. I was in charge of the post, & had given orders to all sentries & man the previous night that in case of attack [illegible] until they were absolutely sure they saw Turks in front of them. As the night was fairly dark this would enable them to come up to about 100 yds before we could see them, then being so close we could
[Page 2]
open an effective fire. To open fire any sooner would only disclose our own position, & approximate strength, & enable master Turk to direct his fire on to the flash from our rifles. However when the fire broke out the men were absolutely cool & carried out every order to the letter, & for 3 hours we stood a moderate fire without firing a single shot. After about 5 minutes of this fire broke out I became convinced that it was only a small patrol of Turks scattered along the ridge in front of us, sent there for the supreme purpose of drawing our fire & there-by disclosing our exact positions & strength. Needless to say if such were his purpose he failed, & that such was the case I am certain, for they used all kinds of fire to make us think they were there in large numbers, & also that before dawn their fire died away & by the time it was properly daylight there was no sign of Turks in our immediate front. For the rest of the day we were left fairly quiet. In the afternoon we had one man wounded in the hip, a snipers well aimed shot. This was the only casualty we had. Since I wrote last which I think was about a week ago, for we have a great job to keep count of time, we have done a good deal of entrenching & have our posts now in a pretty good state
[Page 3]
for defence. One day during the week, Monday I think, we received a fine fat mail, & appreciated it to the full. In that, you were inquiring how I was getting on for clothing, well I am very well off indeed. As the climate is very mild there is not much need for much clothing. I have a complete change of under clothing which I have never worn yet, & plenty of socks to keep me going for quite a while yet. In any case should I require clothing there seems to be a plentiful supply here & I will be able to draw what I want. The latest letters I received were dated about the 26th of April, & all seemed to be in the best of health & spirits. Jack’s luck seems to be right out, fancy all those fine presents & all the good articles he had there going up in smoke like that. Then there is the winter to think of, they will be without a home for the whole of it. Of course they will find a good home with the old people, & I suppose they will only be too pleased to have them, however after all there is no place like a home of your own. The sun is just going down & except for a few shots the scene is a very peaceful looking one. You read in the papers reports of the sporting instinct of the British soldier & how they carry out sport meetings & play foot-ball matches behind the firing line. Well it is all quite correct for the same thing
[Page 4]
goes on here too. The beach here is over looked by pretty high hills, & about 3/4 of a mile over this is the Turkish firing line. All the time bullets are spinning over this beach, & it is always shelled every day, but nothing daunted our lads are there swimming by the thousands. Day after day we go down there & we find such crowds enjoying the water, Ocean Beach, St Clair or any of the sea side resorts in NZ are not a patch on this spot. To go there & see & hear the spirit with which these lads enjoy their swim would cheer the faintest hearted man into some sort of moral courage, if it did not he would be the biggest coward in the world. Here it is Sunday morn the hour 10.A.M., & a beautiful morn it is too. We awoke to fierce cannonade of some unseen by us, Turkish position, by a number of our battle ships. The air simply shook with the reports of the big guns, & I can tell you I would much rather be on the side of the ones who were firing them, than on the side of the ones being fired upon. So far as we can judge from here they must have been firing right across the peninsula on to some Turkish position, or some concentration point.
[Page 5]
The battle ships come up here from [illegible deletion] do [illegible deletion] this last week there has been a fierce cannonading going on further down, & going on to some purpose I should say. The home troops have we believe been strongly reinforced this last week, & so we need not be surprised if there is something big doing down there in the near future. When I say down there it is not very far from here, certainly not more than 6 miles. The position here at the present time is such that we cannot move until something takes a definite course further down. The latest letter I received is from Charl dated 25 April, & he speaks of not getting much news from the firing line, & says there does not seem to be much doing, except the gradual tightening of the screw in France. Well I should say that before this reaches you, you will all be well aware of what an eventful day the 25th of April was over here. It certainly was a day that will go down in history as one of the bloodiest days the world has ever seen. If you could only see the position & nature of the country our men fought over that day, it would send a cold
[Page 6]
of pride down your back, & make one more proud than ever to belong to the race of people we belong to. In any of the papers I have seen yet from England dealing with the landing of the forces here not one of them has done more than justice to their brilliant deeds; & all have spoken very feelingly of the feate, & one & all seem to be unanimous in voicing the opinion that there has been no harder fought battle during the whole of the war. While writing one of our air-ships is having a good cruise straight over our heads. It is laughable to see the vain attempts of the Turks to bring it down with shell fire. Their shells do not got within thousands of yards of it. It simple goes where it likes, & flies right over the Turkis positions. It is to this machine is due credit of the the accurate reconnaissance that is carried out, & which enables our warships to open fire on the concentration of Turkish troops well into the center of the penninsula. Quite frequently we see the boats opening fire, & wonder what they are firing at; & next day we hear from head quarters that their fire was directed on to a supply train, & very often
[Page 7]
on to reinforcements coming up. To give you an idea what things are like I may tell you that in some parts of the firing lines the trenches are only 25 yds apart, & in others 40; of course the majority of them are much further, but the fact remains that there are parts of them as close as that. I hear here, with a certain an amount of accuracy that George Menzies is being sent back to N.Z. on account of the wound in his knee. Should this be true I should you Lottie to tell him when he arrives that I am exceedingly sorry at not being able to find him in Alexandria while I was there, & that I hope to hear from him when he gets time to write. You can also tell Mrs Menzie that I have never yet sent her the photo I spoke of, but that it was through no fault of my own that I did not do so. I intend to pen her a line some day it might be today & it might not be for a month, everything depends on time. However I sincerely hope Georges wound will prove to be not a serious one. I can quite understand that it is such a one as will unfit him for service for the rest of the war, hence
[Page 8]
his being sent back. Tell him that I can well understand how he feels about it & that I know how much he would like to be standing shoulder to shoulder with us here. However he must realize that he has had a chance & has received what was ordained for him to receive. No doubt he will take it badly, for he was is not the one that likes to sit down quietly & see other people going ahead, he must be in the swim too. Now time is running on & I must get this posted, or else I will miss this mail. Very pleased to be able to say that I am in the best of health, as are all the rest of the folk that any of you know. I will convey to them your best wishes & tell them that you wish to be remembered to them. Oh! you asked me to let you know about young Johnstone, well he took sick at Zeitoun, & I saw he was not strong enough to stand active service, so I had him left at the base & I got a new orderly. He turned out to be young Wilson, but Major McKenzie commandered him so that I had to get still another. Johnstone is now with our horses at Mex Alexandria,
[Page 9]
& was looking quite well when we left. You would hardly credit that Bob Tapper can not stand up to it would you. I have heard that he is again in hospital since we came over here. You would think if any man could rough it, he could. It is his throat that is troubling him. Well it must be Au rêvoir for the present
I am
Your Sincere
Brother E.S.McI.
P.S We hear there is another mail in, hope so, never can get too much of that.
E.S.
Am very short of envelopes, so if you would send a spare envelope with every letter you write you would oblige a friend in need. E.S.
